Pinterest has gone from also-ran to must-do. Get pinning now and we’ll resist the urge to rhyme pin with win.

By Jess Loren and Edward Swiderski3 minute Read

There are several ways to find, create, or combine images in order to grasp the right kind of feel for your boards. There are also many programs to assist you in creating a high-quality image. You don’t have to limit yourself to just a basic, everyday picture.

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If you have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, there’s an app in the iTunes store called “Pic Stitch,” which easily creates multi-frames for images. This is one of our favorites.

You can add or remove color, add special text, combine more than one image—basically, anything you can think of (within legal rights, of course) is fair game. Pinterest is a place full of creativity, so why not throw your own into the mix?

Are you having trouble deciding what types of images to use? Just think about the kind of people you are trying to attract and what kind of attributes your product has that will catch their eyes.

When choosing images, remember that people strongly respond to emotions. If you are advertising a brand of cars, for example, pinning an image of a happy family in one of these cars triggers a feeling of happiness in viewers’ minds, perhaps piquing their interest.

Decide what type of image works best for the point you want to make or the product you want to promote. If you include some statistics, consider creating a graph or chart to present those statistics. Here are some quick bullet points that can help guide what’s pinnable and what isn’t:

1. Engage the user emotionally: Images have the ability to strike a chord with a user. When deciding what to pin, consider how the image may elicit an emotional response. This will be key if your images are tied to a campaign that involves sensitive issues.

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2. Convey quality: Don’t pin blindly. The last thing you want to do is pin something that will reflect negatively on your brand. Consider how you, as a customer, would respond to anything you decide to post.

3. Convey clarity of information (when necessary): Be concise with your images and the message you want to convey. There is a time and place for being abstract. If you leave too much to the imagination, you may find your customers aren’t very creative.

4. Motivate a call to action: If your goal is to get a direct response from your users, make sure that your pins reflect your goal.

5. Reach the widest audience possible: Cats, jokes, infographics, and quotes. Images like these drive the internet wild. In order to increase your brand awareness, consider what will offer the most viral traction.

6. Instill your personality: You are your brand. Don’t be afraid to show who you are. Drill down to the essence of who you are. Let your pins reflect that. And remember, you not only want to attract an audience, but you also want them to like your images so much that they want to share them with others. An image should have shareability written all over it!

Because Pinterest is a visually motivated network, your images should be in tip-top shape. A crisp, clear-messaged picture can do wonders. Every aspect of the images you choose should be appealing to everyone who comes across them. Remember that with our short attention spans and desire for quick and easy solutions, you can lose someone’s interest with any mistake, no matter how small it might seem to you.

Jess Loren and Edward Swiderski are cofounders of Kambio Group, a digital marketing agency that concentrates on social media management and event-based campaigns. Follow Jess, Edward, and Kambio on Twitter.